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Thursday, February 19, 2009

My House List

Recently I asked John to make up a list of things that he would like for the house with the number 1 item being a fence. I've always had a list of things in my head that I want to do and I'm assuming he has the same. I figured if we both made a list we could sit down together and prioritize it. Except, I'm pretty sure he's got stuff like a new car stereo and a guitar amp. This is my list so far:

A new fence. This is what the worst corner looked like when we moved in:

We've removed a lot of the brush so it's not tipping over so much. This is the style of fence that we're going to put in.

We're going to start working on it this weekend. John actually has some crazy idea involving railroad ties, crushed gravel and the moving of dirt in order to make the ground level near the gate. I've yet to fully understand exactly how he is going to do this and I'm just going to leave him to it. I'm going to start on the section that's actually falling down and is currently being held in place by L brackets. Yeah, we're Klassy like that.

Oh we also heard back from our city councilwoman. She had come to our HOA meeting and I had also emailed her about the service ditch that runs alongside and behind our house. There are some trees behind the house that are huge and are also helping to tear up the fence. We weren't sure whose responsibility these trees were. Well she sent out someone yesterday from the city and the guy told us that technically we are responsible for anything 2 feet from our fence line, but because of where the tree is, it's size, and that the root structure could potentially mess with the ditch, the city is going to come out and remove it. Rock on! Plus that tree drops some mad seeds all over the place and we constantly have baby trees growing up in our yard.

Next up are little things around the house. I want to update the lighting in pretty much all the rooms of our house. While I was searching for ceiling fans (Yes, I'm from Texas. We have a ceiling fan in every room of our house tacky or not) I discovered that you can actually change out the light fixtures on them and that many have reversible blades. I actually felt pretty dumb for not knowing this! Last night I got up and looked at all our fans and discovered that almost everything I hated about them could easily be changed!

So for the living room I want to get rid of this:

and change it to something like this:

I think the blades are the same color on both sides, but I actually like their color.

I HATE the fan in my bedroom, but found out that I have some really pretty cherry blades instead of the ugly walnut ones that are currently showing. I also want more light than the 3 lights give and want to change it to something like this:

or to maybe the same as what I want in the living room. I can't decide.

John's mom is also giving us a fan that she took out of her living room. We're going to put that one in the office (no clue what it looks like) and get rid of this crappy one:

For the guest room I want to change out the bubble fixture and put in this. It also has cherry blades that are currently hiding.

The kitchen is a tough one. This is the current kitchen set up:

I have an odd shaped kitchen and we keep the table against the wall except when we have company over. If it's pulled out all the time, it's hard to get from the living room into the kitchen, but this is the only time that the table is centered under the light. The current fan (there is another light on the other side of the kitchen as well) is really pretty, but doesn't sit in there well (blame the previous homeowners). Plus it's a bell shaped light cover and the chain is hard to pull through, plus you get the feeling that the whole thing is going to fall on you when you pull it. So I could change the fixture to something like this to make pulling easier:

Or I could get rid of the fan (the fan is only nice when you're doing a ton of cooking and the kitchen gets hot) and put in a chandelier:

But because we'd be walking under that part of the table on a regular basis and John and I aren't exactly short, I'm also thinking something like this:

Or like this:

Or this:

I really like the first one, but the black or stainless would also go better with the kitchen. Which do you like best?

I also want to replace the hallway light with this:

Next on is the bathrooms. I REALLY want to replace these lights that are in both bathrooms.

Ugh. I HATE gold.

I'm thinking something along the lines of this:

I also want to replace the faucet in the hallway bath with this:

In our master bath I REALLY want a new vanity:

Ours was painted black and started peeling (again, thanks previous owners). Because of the wood grain it was really hard to strip so we just gave up and painted it white, but it's kind of crappy.

I also want to paint our bathroom, but I'm not sure what color.

I REALLY want new living room furniture I like this set a lot:

Plus it's currently on sale for half off, which makes me want it really more. I can't decide if I would rather have a regular or a sleeper sofa though. I plan on having this furniture for a long time and I know that eventually we'll have to give up having a guest room once those little monsters people call children come along (VERY, VERY DISTANT FUTURE) so I'd like to have a place for people to sleep. Although an air mattress set up in the office is also pretty comfy and a little more private. What do you think - sleeper or a regular couch? (Plus the regular sofa is super cheap right now).

On to landscaping stuff. I really want to make a garden. We don't have a suitable place in the backyard (or the space) so I've thought about getting some large planters and lining the deck with them.

I also want to get rid of this ugly tree we have in the backyard. It's still pretty small, but it's right next to the outdoor AC unit. Plus it has 2 trunks instead of 1 so it won't ever be a solid tree. I want to dig it up and put in a lime tree in a different area.

The guy from the city that came to look at the big tree also told us that we could pretty much do whatever we wanted to along the small ditch beside the house. We're thinking of taking out the overgrown Red Tipped Photinias and planting a row of hedges.

This will help keep the soil in and keep the kids from cutting through our yard.